A press release from Grafton Township Assessor Al Zielinski:
Grafton Township Assessor’s Office Forced to Close Due to Inadequate Funding
HUNTLEY, IL (April 11, 2014) – Grafton Township turned abruptly on its heels last night and returned to contention versus consensus when it was discovered the assessor’s office’s budget was dramatically reduced to its fiscal year 2013-14 spending versus the frugal and thoughtful budget submitted by the Assessor.
A slap in our face
Assessor Zielinski’s face was ashen and his words measured but the pain was clearly evident in his words.
Al Zielinski urging the McHenry County College Board to act in a “business-like” manner.
“Not only was the alternative budget determined without our input, we weren’t included in the e-mail distribution of the Board packet that contained it.
“It was pure happenstance that we discovered what was happening before being blindsided at next Monday’s township meeting.
“That’s not how teams work and win.”
“The deputies and I invested numerous hours building a budget from the ground up, looking forward and considering the needs of Grafton Township as it corrects it past assessment shortcomings and prepares for the 2015 quadrennial assessment.
“No games were involved, i.e., no requests were made for more than what is needed so some could be negotiated away.” continued Zielinski.
“Further, after being e-mailed to all Board members last Friday, two of the four Trustees haven’t even bothered to open my e-mail so they could read and consider our proposed budget.
“How can they fulfill their fiduciary duties to Grafton’s citizens when they don’t even bother reading what was sent to them?” lamented Zielinski.
Illinois Property Tax Code Violations
Zielinski continued with another aspect he feels is pivotal to avoiding a return to litigation: adherence to the Property Tax Code.
“It appears this administration failed to learn from the legal failures of its predecessors: Illinois statutes are clear that only the Assessor can determine and submit the budget for his office.1 They also clearly state the Board cannot approve or disapprove a township assessor’s personnel. 2 ”
As to the past assessment shortcomings left by his predecessor, Zielinski would publicly state only three:
- 14,000+ of the township’s 21,000+ parcels do not have recent pictures as required by the Property Tax Code 3,
- some commercial properties appear to have received special treatment and are almost criminally under-assessed and
- a departmental Employee Handbook was absent for at least 12 years4.
How the Supervisor and Board could drastically cut the assessor’s budget in light of those and other discretions baffles Zielinski. His only conclusion:
“Neither the Supervisor nor the Board have a clue what we do or the state of the township relative to the assessments that form the basis for its property taxes. No wonder taxpayers are up in arms and appeals are at record levels.”
Putting and Keeping Taxpayers First
“Two of my campaign promises were austerity and implementing systems that would provide high returns on investment to Grafton Township’s residents and businesses. The budget we submitted achieved exactly that. It concentrated on creating office efficiency where none existed and providing the highest-qualified staff .”
Zielinski continued with three examples.
- Saving the township at least 33% (more than $4,000 thus far) on much-needed, critical technology upgrades.
- Implementing software that will dramatically increase residential and commercial assessment accuracy.
- Reducing the headcount from seven to six but increasing the deputies’ credentials – all at a lower cost!
Hopefully by this time next year, three of the current four deputies will have achieved their CIAO-M designation: the highest offered by Illinois.
Further, two basic CIAO deputies were replaced by Certified Appraisers: one Certified General and one Certified Residential.
The proposed budget’s austerity is clear when one compares it to previous years.
The fiscal year 2014-2015 budget for the Assessor’s office is less than $520,000. That is:
- almost $50,000 below the Assessor’s adopted budget for FY 2013-2014 and
- almost $60,000 below the Assessor’s adopted budget for FY 2012-2013.
As such, it represents dramatic decreases in the requested funds yet provides significant increases in the Assessor’s Office productivity, accuracy and professionalism.
Doing at Least as Well if not Better than Our Neighbors
The final comparison Zielinski made in defending his budget was relative to neighboring townships. The results were crystal clear.
“We compared Grafton’s proposed budget to our neighboring townships on parcel count and percentage of property tax revenue bases. In both cases, Grafton’s proposed budget falls well within the range of the other townships.” stated Zielinski.
A Plea for Help
Zielinski concluded with a straightforward plea to those who elected him.
“Please attend the township meeting Monday, April 14, 2014 at 7 PM to voice your concerns and demand reasonable funding to allow the Assessor to provide Grafton Township property tax payers with a highly-trained and qualified staff that will result in accurate assessments guaranteeing that no one will pay more than their fair share.”
“The Township Assessor’s budget presented to the Supervisor and Board of Trustees will be posted in its entirety on our web site (http://www.GraftonTownship.us
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1 35 ILCS 200/2-30
2 35 ILCS 200/2-20
3 35 ILCS 200/9-155
4 35 ILCS 200/2-65
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Please visit the Grafton Township Assessor’s web site athttp://www.GraftonTownship.us or stop in the office at 10109 Vine Street in Huntley (just west of Route 47 behind the American Community Bank).
Township governments are useless. Axe the budget to zero.
I knew Al Zielinski would do something like this, some cheap publicity stunt complaining about his funding.
You made your own bed here, Zielinski.
You honked off the township board once too often, and demanded a bigger budget.
Trying to appeal to the public is not going to sit well with the board, as you’ll find out on Monday night.
Next time, try talking face-to-face with the township supervisor, you work in the same building.
(1) If anyone takes time to review the budget (or even read this article) before posting gibberish, they’ll quickly see the proposed budget is BELOW the prior two years.
(2) As the article states, the assessor’s office wasn’t even copied on the Board packet e-mail so
any communication problems are not ours.
(3) The opportunity to speak with the Supervisor would be enhanced if he was in the office with some regularity.
(4) My appeal is to the voters because it’s to them that I report; not the Supervisor or the Board as they believe.
If the board packet is emailed to the board members, why isn’t it posted on the township website?
No board packets have been posted by this board.
This is secrecy in government, not transparency.
I am very disappointed.
All right “Al Zielinski”, you need to remember your place in township government, especially when it comes to budgeting.
It’s the board’s decision, not yours.
Your publicity stunt is going to get you smacked into your place come the next board meeting, since you are out of line trying to rally the public to your side.
Let me take your points and put my comments to show readers why you are going to lose.
“(1) If anyone takes time to review the budget (or even read this article) …they’ll quickly see the proposed budget is BELOW the prior two years.” if the Zielinski budget was truly below the prior 2 years, there would be no problem. What’s happening here is the township board is fed up with Zielinski’s inappropriate expenditures, like using his own attorney instead of the township attorney to rewrite some manuals, and for signing a purchasing contract WITHOUT board approval. Zielinski has gone rogue twice, and the board is going to prevent him from doing so again through the budget.
“(2) As the article states, the assessor’s office wasn’t even copied on the Board packet e-mail so any communication problems are not ours.” It’s the township clerk who sends the official township board packet to the board. Maybe you should take it up with the clerk directly. While the clerk’s only a part-time position, Zielinski is at the office all of the time, so taking to a press release is again completely inappropriate.
“(3) The opportunity to speak with the Supervisor would be enhanced if he was in the office with some regularity.” Hmmm, I guess Zielinski has never used a telephone, or doesn’t know how to email the supervisor. The real reason Zielinski doesn’t want to talk to the supervisor is because the supervisor sees through Zielinski’s spin. The supervisor is tired of having to correct Zielinski’s working around the board, and I’m sure he’ll give Zielinski an earful the next time they see each other. Zielinski, prepared to have your ears boxed again.
“(4) My appeal is to the voters because it’s to them that I report; not the Supervisor or the Board as they believe.” WRONG! The voters have their say every 4 years. Between elections, the assessor, along with the highway commissioner and the clerk, reports to the township board on any question of finances, period. The board represents the voters, and it’s the trustees who audit the spending, and in Zielinski’s 3 1/2 months, the supervisor and trustees have had to call Zielinski out twice for his very questionable spending decisions without board oversight. Again Zielinski, remember your place.
Come the next township board meeting, Zielinski is going to get it (verbally) when the township board, in the appropriate channel, has to put Zielinski in his place, yet again.
Honestly, Zielinski is going to get his ears boxed.
Oncoming….language like “remember your place” and “you are going to get smacked down” are just plain out of line.
Settle down and get some civility.
We pay the supervisor $40,000 per year, I would expect him to be available full time in person, that’s a lot of dough.
We don’t need your “help” with comments like “he is going to get his ears boxed.”
@22 thank you for your opinion, and only Cal’s opinion counts concerning my, or anyone else’s posts. As for me, I have more than enough civility, and I see no reason to “settle down”. The supervisor’s role is part-time, and that does not explain why Al Zielinski cannot phone nor email him.
Zielinski should have kept his disagreements with the township board private, so he could engage with the board respectfully, either at the township meeting or 1-on-1 with the supervisor. Instead, his press release comes across like a temper tantrum, including the irresponsible headline including the “…forced to close…”, which is completely untrue.
Zielinski needs a lesson in humility, and knowing his place concerning township board policy and budgeting. The township board, led by the supervisor, will see he gets taught that lesson, but good.
And FEN has weighed-in, too:
http://www.firstelectricnewspaper.com/2014/04/grafton-assessor-warns-of-return-to.html
“FEN was unable to contact present Supervisor Jim Kearns Friday evening nor Zielinski this [Saturday] morning. However, according to a reliable source, Kearns already intended to take Grafton’s new Assessor to the metaphorical woodshed Monday for spending money that he doesn’t think the Township has.”
Yup, I was right! Al Zielinski is going to get his ears boxed soon!
Data, versus unfounded opinions, make for the best dialog.
Here are data to refute the highly-opinionated and profoundly uninformed postings above.
Budget (even did the math)
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FY 2014-15 submitted $517,027
FY 2013-14 approved $576,000 ($58,973)
FY 2012-13 approved $563,910 ($46,883)
So, let’s put (1) to rest: the submitted budget is significantly less than the previous years.
The entire documents, including monthly, line item support, can be downloaded here:
http://graftonsear.web709.discountasp.net/dnn/Portals/0/Assessor/Assessor%20FY%202014-15%20Executive%20Summary%20and%20Budget.pdf
Board Packet
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Is mailed by the Township Administrative Assistant who assembles it.
The Clerk is on the distribution list.
That put (2) to rest.
Supervisor Interaction
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“Next time, try talking face-to-face with the township supervisor, you work in the same building.”
Now phone or e-mail is suggested.
That put (3) to rest.
Board Role
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Anyone takes the time to refer to any governmental guideline book(let) for the newly elected, will learn the role of the Board is crystal-clear: governance NOT management.
I report directly to the voters.
That puts (4) to rest.
I’m an engineer who speaks data. Let’s try to keep the dialog based on that versus unfounded, highly-biased innuendo coming from those with a personal agenda.
I welcome everyone, regardless of your belief, to attend Monday’s meeting.
It’s only with your continued vocal guidance that Grafton’s problems can finally be resolved.
Voting once every four years is commendable but inadequate; voicing your guidance every month is much more preferable, efficient and effective.
“Alan Zielinski”, I deal with data and analytics for a living, so your so-called data is only as accurate as it is to be believed.
Let’s look at the township supervisor’s view of your data:
“FEN was unable to contact present Supervisor Jim Kearns Friday evening nor Zielinski this [Saturday] morning. However, according to a reliable source, Kearns already intended to take Grafton’s new Assessor to the metaphorical woodshed Monday for spending money that he doesn’t think the Township has.”
It is clear the township supervisor doesn’t believe Zielinski’s data.
But what Zielinski’s actions have pointed out is, he has shown no respect to the township supervisor, nor the township board.
I like FEN’s description of the “metaphorical woodshed”, because I see the following happening to Al Zielinski come Monday — he’ll be in the fetal position, thumb-in-mouth groveling for the supervisor to stop, metaphorically speaking of course, when the township supervisor puts Zielinski in his place.
At first, it’s about the difference of opinion on the budget.
But now, it’s more about Zielinski’s failure to respect the township board, through his temper-tantrum press release and his appeal to Grafton residents to pack-the-meeting on Monday.
The township supervisor will not stand for this, and he is going to let Zielinski know publicly, no matter how many witnesses see it.
Oncoming…do you predict the future often?
How can you be so certain of the supervisors actions before they happen?
Let me make a prediction too…
I predict the rift will be worked out in a professional manner in the best interest of the taxpayers.
I think that a problem solving focus is much preferred to your metaphorical “beat the assessor focus.”
@22, there’s an old saying in politics that people who like to throw around a lot of numbers need to remember: figures lie and liars figure
The Grafton Township assessor’s budget is more than just some minor rift, but a major disagreement in the numbers. “Alan Zielinski” claims his budget is nearly $59,000 less than the previous approved fiscal year approved budget.
The supervisor sees Zielinski’s requested budget as $35,000 more than last year’s spending.
The key disagreement as I see it, is “approved budget amount” and “actual fiscal year spending”.
Earlier this calendar year, Zielinski made questionable spending decisions, and was called-out by the board.
Zielinski is trying to use the “approved budget amount” for his comparison, and not the actual spend in the assessor’s office, including his questionable spending decisions the board had no choice but to approve after-the-fact.
The township supervisor is holding the assessor to the same amount of monies SPENT in FY2013-14, which was OVER the approved budget Zielinski uses for comparison, thanks to Zielinski’s spending decisions he made without board pre-approval.
I do hope, for the sake of Grafton Township taxpayers, this budget dispute is settled WITHOUT any litigation.
The township board has the upper hand, since unlike the township highway commissioner who has a separate tax rate and requires board approval of anything the highway commissioner submits for his budget, the assessor’s budget is part of the township fund, and under complete budgetary oversight of the township board.
Zielinski is going to get the public beating he deserves for doing his end-run attempt around the township board, and then the township board will cap Zielinski’s budget to the 2013-14 spending, and Zielinski will have to make do with what he has.
Not surprising some people don’t want you, the public, to see the data and the work that went into it so you can make your own personal decisions.
When you download the Executive Summary and Budget, you’ll see a fully-supported budget with detailed monthly line-item support.
You can/will quickly see how the front page numbers were built and
(a) decide if the numbers are credible and
(b) if that is the type of professional office you want determining your assessments and resulting property taxes.
A budget based on past years’ expenses guarantees only that the past (with its substantial flaws, oversights and tax code violations) will be repeated.
Those flaws include the following as well as numerous others.
– 14,000+ of the township’s 21,000+ parcels do not have recent pictures as required by the Property Tax Code,
– some commercial properties appear to have received special treatment and are almost criminally under-assessed and
– a departmental Employee Handbook was absent for at least 12 years.
Please download the budget with its support, review it and then voice your opinion at tonight’s township meeting: 7:30 PM, 10109 Vine Street, Huntley.
Thank you,
Al Zielinski
Grafton Township Assessor